Self-study
Support Studies have found that human tears contain many of the same hormones that the human body produces in times of emotional stress. ██████ ████████ █████ ███████ ███████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ █████████ ███████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that crying must have the effect of reducing emotional stress. This is based on the following:
Human tears have many of the same hormones that the body produces in times of emotional stress.
Shedding tears removes a lot of these hormones from the body.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the hormones that are present in times of stress are a causal factor in producing stress. This is flawed because the evidence has only established a correlation between the presence of hormones and the feeling of stress. It’s possible that the actual causal relationship is reversed; maybe stress causes the hormones. Or maybe there’s a third factor that causes both the hormones and stress.
24.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████
a
overlooks the possibility ████ ██ ██████ ███ █ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ███████ ████ ████████ █████ █████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ █████
This possibility doesn’t undermine the argument, because it concedes that “crying has a tendency to reduce emotional stress.” We want to point out why crying might not reduce emotional stress; that’s how we point out why the argument is flawed.
b
confuses a condition ████ ██ ████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ █ █████ ██████████ ████ █ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████████
The stimulus doesn’t present any condition that’s required to produce something else. We’re never told that feeling stress is required in order for the body to produce the hormones. Maybe the hormones can be produced during other times, too, beyond just times of stress.
c
fails to adequately ███████ ███ ███████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ███████████ ██ █ ██████ ███████████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ ████
This possibility doesn’t undermine the argument, because it concedes that “one phenomenon causally contributes to a second.” We don’t want to concede a causal relationship. The flaw must related to why crying does not reduce stress, or why hormones do not cause stress.
d
fails to adequately ███████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████ █ █████ ██████████
The premises don’t present any factors that “are jointly responsible for causing” anything. We don’t know what causes stress, and we don’t know what causes the hormones to be produced. We have no basis to identify anything as jointly responsible for causing something.
e
takes for granted ████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ████████ █ █████████ ███████ █████ ██████████ ███ █ █████ ██ ████ █████████
The argument assumes that because the hormones are present whenever emotional stress occurs, the hormones are a cause of the emotional stress. This assumption underlies the author’s belief that getting rid of the hormones will help reduce stress.